Éxodo 20

VBL · Chapter 20/40

1Dios dijo todas las siguientes palabras:

2“Yo soy el Señor tu Dios, que te sacó de Egipto, de la tierra de tu esclavitud.

3“No tendrás a otros dioses aparte de mi.

4“No harás ningún tipo de ídolo, ya sea que se parezca a algo arriba en los cielos, o abajo en la tierra, ni debajo en las aguas.

5No debes inclinarte ante ellos ni adorarlos, porque yo soy el Señor tu Dios y soy celosamente exclusivo. Yo pongo las consecuencias del pecado de los que me odian sobre sus hijos, sus nietos y sus bisnietos;

6pero muestro mi amor fiel a las miles de generaciones que me aman y guardan mis mandamientos.

7“No debes usar mal el nombre del Señor tu Dios, porque el Señor no perdonará a nadie que use su nombre de forma incorrecta.

8“Recuerda el sábado para santificarlo.

9Tienes seis días para trabajar y ganarte el sustento,

10pero el séptimo día es el sábado para honrar al Señor tu Dios. En este día no debes hacer ningún trabajo, ni tú, ni tu hijo o hija, ni tu esclavo o esclava, ni el ganado, ni el extranjero que esté contigo.

11Porqueen seis días el Señor hizo los cielos y la tierra, el mar y todo lo que hay en ellos, y luego descansó en el séptimo día. Por eso el Señor bendijo el día de reposo y lo hizo santo.

12“Honra a tu padre y a tu madre, para que vivas mucho tiempo en la tierra que el Señor tu Dios te da.

13“No cometerás asesinato.

14“No cometerás adulterio.

15“No robarás.

16“No darás falso testimonio contra otros.

17“No desearás tener la casa de otro. No desearás a su esposa, nia su esclavo o esclava, ni a su buey o asno, ni cualquier otra cosa que le pertenezca”.

18Cuando todo el pueblo oyó el trueno y el sonido de la trompeta, y vio el relámpago y el humo de la montaña, temblaron de miedo y se alejaron.

19“Habla con nosotros y te escucharemos”, le dijeron a Moisés. “Pero no dejes que Dios nos hable, o moriremos”.

20Moisés les dijo: “No teman, porque Dios sólo ha venido a probarlos. Quiere que le tengan miedo para que no pequen”.

21Entonces el pueblo se alejó mucho cuando Moisés se acercó a la espesa y oscura nube donde estaba Dios.

22El Señor le dijo a Moisés: “Esto es lo que les debes decir a los israelitas: ‘Vieron con sus propios ojos que les hablé desde el cielo.

23Noharán ningún ídolo de plata o de oro ni lo adorarán aparte de mí.

24Háganme un altar de tierra y sacrifiquen sobre él sus holocaustos y ofrendas de paz, sus ovejas, sus cabras y su ganado. Dondequiera que decida que me adoren, vendé a ustedes y los bendeciré.

25Ahora bien, si me hacen un altar de piedras, no lo construyas con piedras cortadas, porque si usan un cincel para cortar la piedra, dejan de ser sagradas.

26Además, no deben subir a mi altar con escalones, para que no se vean sus partes privadas’”.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

God gives the Ten Commandments directly to the people of Israel, establishing foundational principles for their relationship with God and with one another; the people, frightened by the divine manifestation, ask that Moses be their intermediary.

Explanation

This is one of the most influential chapters in all of human history: the Ten Commandments establish an ethical and spiritual foundation that would shape not only Israel but entire civilizations in the centuries that followed. The first commandments deal with the vertical relationship with God (exclusive worship, the prohibition of images, the reverent use of the divine name, keeping the Sabbath), while the last ones deal with horizontal relationships between people (honoring parents, and prohibitions against murder, adultery, theft, lying, and coveting) — showing that biblical ethics always connects love for God with love for one's neighbor. The people's fear at the divine manifestation, asking that God not speak to them directly ('Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die', v. 19), reveals both genuine reverence and an awareness that God's holiness is more intense than they can bear directly, cementing Moses' role as mediator between God and the people.

Fun facts

  • The Ten Commandments are repeated, with minor variations, in Deuteronomy 5, and throughout history have been the basis of legal and ethical systems in many Western cultures, frequently cited in courts of law and legal documents into the modern era.
  • The chapter's final instruction, against using metal tools to shape the stones of the altar (v. 25), reflects a concern that worship of God remain simple and uncorrupted by human pride in art or technology — a principle that contrasts with the elaborate ornamentation later required for the tabernacle itself.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Éxodo 20:1Introduces God’s direct address to the people, opening the Ten Commandments, considered the core of the law given at Sinai.
  2. Éxodo 20:2Before any commandment, God identifies Himself by the concrete act He has already done: bringing the people out of slavery in Egypt, the historical foundation of the whole covenant.
  3. Éxodo 20:3The first commandment demands exclusivity: no other god may be placed beside or above the God of Israel.
  4. Éxodo 20:4Forbids making any carved image to represent God or any other deity, going against a common practice among Israel’s neighboring peoples.
  5. Éxodo 20:5“Visiting the iniquity” of the parents on the children to the third and fourth generation does not mean God punishes a child for the parent’s sin. In practice, as described in the Bible, one generation tends to repeat the same choices and habits of the one before it within a family — the text describes that recurring consequence more than a directly inherited punishment.
  6. Éxodo 20:6In contrast with the limited reach of the punishment in the previous verse, God’s mercy is described as far broader, extending to thousands of generations of those who love Him.
  7. Éxodo 20:7The ban on using God’s name “in vain” was more about swearing falsely or lending weight to a lie by invoking the divine name than about saying “God” as an everyday exclamation. The core idea is not to turn God’s name into a tool for manipulation or deceit.
  8. Éxodo 20:8The fourth commandment deals with the Sabbath, picking up the practice already introduced in practical form in chapter 16, even before it became formal law here.
  9. Éxodo 20:9Establishes the weekly work pattern: six days devoted to ordinary tasks before the day of rest on the seventh day.
  10. Éxodo 20:10The Sabbath commandment explicitly includes even the foreigners and the working animals living in the household. Rest was not a privilege reserved for the Israelite family alone, but extended to everyone under that roof, including those who were not part of the people.
  11. Éxodo 20:11Ties Sabbath rest directly to the account of creation in Genesis, in which God likewise rested on the seventh day after six days of work.
  12. Éxodo 20:12The fifth commandment is the first directed at human relationships, tying the honoring of parents to a promise of long life in the promised land.
  13. Éxodo 20:13One of the shortest and most direct commandments: it forbids taking another person’s life.
  14. Éxodo 20:14Forbids unfaithfulness within marriage, one of the central rules organizing family life in Israel.
  15. Éxodo 20:15Forbids taking possession of what belongs to another person without consent.
  16. Éxodo 20:16Forbids lying about another person, especially in legal settings, where false testimony could change the outcome of a trial.
  17. Éxodo 20:17Desiring what belongs to your neighbor — the house, the wife, the possessions — is different from simply admiring what someone else has: it is desire that already aims at how to take it for oneself. It is the only one of the Ten Commandments dealing with an inner feeling rather than a visible action, which is why it is the hardest to spot from the outside.
  18. Éxodo 20:18After hearing the commandments, the people react with fear at the phenomena accompanying God’s presence, drawing back from the mountain.
  19. Éxodo 20:19The people ask Moses to serve as a go-between with God, afraid that hearing God directly could be fatal.
  20. Éxodo 20:20Moses explains that the purpose behind that overwhelming display was to test the people and instill a healthy fear that would keep them from sin.
  21. Éxodo 20:21While the people stay at a distance, Moses draws near the thick darkness where God was, a contrast that marks his unique role as mediator.
  22. Éxodo 20:22God reinforces that the people themselves witnessed the communication coming directly from heaven, validating the authority of the laws now being given.
  23. Éxodo 20:23Repeats the ban on other gods, this time specifically calling out idols made of silver or gold, valuable materials used in religious images.
  24. Éxodo 20:24Gives the first practical instruction about worship after the Ten Commandments: a simple altar of earth, tied to the promise of blessing wherever God’s name is remembered.
  25. Éxodo 20:25The ban on using hewn stones, that is, stones cut and polished with tools, on the altar kept it from becoming a piece of decorated sculpture, similar to the ornamented altars of other peoples with carved religious images. The altar had to be simple, made of earth or rough stone, so attention stayed on the sacrifice, not on the craftsmanship itself.
  26. Éxodo 20:26Forbids going up to the altar by steps, to avoid improper exposure of the priest’s body during the ritual, a practical concern repeated later in the book.

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